ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROVERS David Fearnhead speaks to Blackburn Rovers Ladies’ latest signing, Erica Cunningham, who comes from California. Image courtesy: Shannon McLoughlan
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ometime in September 1965 a young American was sitting at a railway station in Widnes. It could have been Warrington or Wigan. In this ‘tour of one-night stands’ it didn’t really matter. For every northern town looked the same to him, just more iron-brick factories and endless rows of Victorian terraced houses. His mind turned to home. Though there was something about his current surroundings which resonated with him. The Greenwich Village folk crowd had
been conspicuously disinterested in his music, but in England they listened. And in that moment of melancholy on the platform of some northern train station he found the lyrics to a tune he’d been working on. Over a half-century later another young American is sitting in a Preston cafe hoping to realise her own aspirations. Erica Cunningham has come a long way to get here, logistically and emotionally. Her bright-eyed enthusiasm and gentle American accent offer a warmth that is in contrast with the ominous grey skies gathering outside. It will take more than Storm Eunice to knock her off course. Her resilience in forging a football career has required sacrifices few would be prepared to make. “It’s been difficult being overseas and being away from my family because so much has
